Sultan’s daughter, Princess Jacel Kiram, explains why Sabah is for the Philippines
The issue on the West Philippine Sea has been in frequent talks for several years now. However, that region is not everything that the Philippines has a historical claim on for certain areas. We must not forget that somewhere in Mindanao, there was once a great sultanate in Sulu and their royal house, their lineage, can help us remember another region that the Philippines has a historical claim on: Sabah.
This interview can help us get educated on the general ideas on why Sabah is historically owned by the Philippines and not by Malaysia. There are countries that have been teaching their children, through schools and forms of media, on the reasons why certain territories are theirs and why they have more rights in certain areas than other countries. In the Philippines, we hope that our government, schools, communities, and families would do a better job in educating our people on the territories that we have been claiming for decades now.
It is a privilege that I was able to interview the Princess Jacel Kiram–daughter of the late Sultan Jamalul Kiram III–who has clear direct blood ties with the former sultans of Sulu.
Princess Jacel Kiram raised the following points:
1. Sabah is producing an income of $72B per year. If we are going to compute that, how much can it help to benefit the Filipino people?
2. Sabah is a property owned by the sultanate of Sulu. But because Sulu is officially part of the Philippines, a constitutionally republican-democratic country, then Sabah is also part of the Philippines.
3. The Philippine claim for Sabah goes back to the 1700’s. It was given to sultanate of Sulu by the sultanate of Brunei as a token of gratitude in helping to stop the rebellion in Brunei.
4. The sultanate of Sulu rented Sabah to British North Borneo Company. The agreement was it would pay 5,000 Mexican gold coins per year. However, when Malaysia was born in the 1960’s and the British turned over the authority to Malaysia for their country, Malaysia continued the rent. But, instead of paying through Mexican gold coins, they paid through the amount of 5,300 ringgit per year. Today, one ringgit costs less than P13. Imagine how low this is compared to the income caused by Sabah of $72B per year. This is why the sultanate of Sulu would rather cancel the rent, have the whole of Sabah be back under full operations of the Philippines, and help make the Filipinos benefit from it completely once again.
5. Actually, when the sultanate of Sulu made moves to get Sabah back in 2013, the Malaysian government already stopped paying their annual rent because they wanted to show that Sabah is indeed theirs so why do they pay rent? Still, it cannot be denied that they have been paying rent for decades now and it was only because they wanted to show they’re not “renting” it which is why they stopped paying even if there is a rental agreement.
6. In 2016, President Duterte had a clear stand on Sabah. He said that it is for the Filipinos. We are hoping that our government would successfully push for it, using a lot of political will to get Sabah back for Filipinos.
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The following is not anymore part of the interview and Princess Jacel Kiram did not say this, but the blogger intends to write it down anyway to give more context on this issue:
President Duterte has not made a strong political move to advance the Philippine case for Sabah, although Miriam Defensor-Santiago was trying to do so when she was alive. She wrote some of her notes in her 2015 International Law book published by Rex Bookstore.
The following are notes from 2016 that may still need to be continually verified and observed even today out of caution:
There have been rumors that the Malaysian government has been funding some Filipino politicians so that they would not help the Kiram family and the Filipinos in claiming Sabah back. The funding may be in the form of P10 million or business deals. Names like Governor Hataman would surface as part of the beneficiaries of the Malaysian government. (See references below).
There are also those saying that the recently passed Bangsamoro Organic Law, previously known as the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), was done through the funding of Malaysian government. Not all stakeholders were included in the discussion and has a clear say in the distribution of powers.
There are those who support the narrative that the people in Mindanao, the Moros, were never part of the Philippines as they were just forced to be part of it. This claim runs in contradiction to the acknowledgement of the sultanate of Sulu and other royal clans that they acknowledge they have been part of the Philippines for so long now, and there have been candidates from the Muslim Filipino in our national and local elections, even producing lawyers, who all swore allegiance to protect our constitution, sovereignty, and our laws as they serve the people.
There were fears that with the passage of the Bangsamoro Organic Law, that it would help in erasing the memory and hold of the royal families, thus resulting to the eventual loss or weakening of claim of territories such as Sabah. There were attempts by Malaysia to buy Sabah, but the late Sultan Jamalul Kiram III always refused even if there were leaders in the Philippine government urging him to accept the offer. Who else is very strong and consistent in claiming it, educating people about it, and seriously putting it in their platforms aside from the royal families who have a stake in it?
The new leaders would then produce their own “democratic” dynasties, and Malaysia funding other people who have royal blood to assert royal titles, thereby creating confusion on who is the real titleholder of what sultanate. It is a sad thing that historical titles, traditional authorities, sovereignty, and claims might be set aside, forgotten, or be funded against in the pretext of establishing more democratic institutions. Also, there were legislators who told me that they only voted in favor of the Bangsamoro Organic Law out of fear of the president or as a party agenda, though it is not clear that they won’t try to become independent of the Philippines.
Although, the Philippine government really has to do a lot of helping out for those living in Mindanao. People in Luzon and Visayas should have more heart or compassion for those in Mindanao, because we are one people.
I wrote this down so as that the leaders and advocates of this new political system would prove themselves otherwise, and that---hopefully---the Filipinos from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao would always find a common cause to stay together and fight not with each other but for each other.
There are also people in Sabah whose hearts we have to win.
References:
Adilah, Anith. (2018). Malaysia backs Philippines’ Bangsamoro Organic Law. Retrieved on January 5, 2018 from https://www.malaymail.com/s/1656952/malaysia-backs-philippines-bangsamoro-organic-law
Avecilla, Victor. (2015). Malaysia’s vested interests in the BBL. Retrieved on January 5, 2018 from http://manilastandard.net/news/bangsamoro-basic-law/172905/malaysia-s-vested-interests-in-the-bbl.html
Jannaral, Julmunir I. (2018). ARMM gov accepts leadership fellowship in Malaysia. Retrieved on January 5, 2018 from https://www.manilatimes.net/armm-gov-accepts-leadership-fellowship-in-malaysia/445651/
Pareño, Roel. (2018). ARMM ready for Bangsamoro transition – Mujiv Hataman. Retrieved on January 5, 2018 from https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2018/03/05/1793622/armm-ready-bangsamoro-transition-mujiv-hataman
Politiko Mindanao. (2018). Gov. Hataman completes short-term course in Malaysia. Retrieved on January 5, 2018 from https://mindanao.politics.com.ph/gov-hataman-completes-short-term-course-in-malaysia/
Romero, Jose V., Jr. (2018). MILF-Malaysian ties and the BBL. Retrieved on January 5, 2018 from https://www.manilatimes.net/milf-malaysian-ties-bbl/379521/
The Manila Times. (2018). Explain Malaysia’s role in the Bangsamoro agreement. Retrieved on January 5, 2018 from https://www.manilatimes.net/explain-malaysias-role-in-the-bangsamoro-agreement/220188/
Tordesillas, Ellen, T. (2015). Magdalo Rep: Malaysia’s role in creation of Bangsamoro still cause of concern. Retrieved on January 5, 2018 from https://news.abs-cbn.com/blogs/opinions/06/27/15/magdalo-rep-malaysias-role-creation-bangsamoro-still-cause-concern
